At the age of 75, one of the leading figures on the 20th century music Philip Glass, who shares the podium of the minimal music with John Adams, Steve Reich and Terry Riley, is composing a new work for the Teatro Real.
"The Perfect American", with libretto by Rudy Wurlitzer based on Peter Stephan Jungk’s work, imagining the final months of the life of Walt Disney - the person who has, more than any other, influenced the current world of consumers.
Children nowadays only see mice and ducks as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, thanks to the image invented for them by Walt Disney factory. In opposition to the world of happiness he devised, the existence of this perfect American was marked by an unhappy youth and a personality whose “political correctness” outdid that of even Richard Nixon.
From the hand of Dennis Russell Davies, who has conducted almost all the premieres of Glass’s operas, and the stage director Phelim McDermott, we will be penetrating into the nightmare of a happy world. World Premiere, commission of the Teatro Real De Madrid and English National Opera of London.
Walt Disney: Christopher Purves
Roy Disney: David Pittsinger
Dantine: Donald Kaasch
Hazel George: Janis Kelly
Lillian Disney: Marie McLaughlin
Sharon: Sarah Tynan
Diane: Nazan Fikret
Lucy/Josh: Rosie Lomas
Abraham Lincoln/A funerary worker: Zachary James
Andy Warhol: John Easterlin
Chuck / A doctor: Juan Noval-Moro
A secretary: Beatriz de Gálvez
Nurse: Noelia Buñuel
Actors: The Improbable Skills Ensemble
Choir and Orchestra of the Teatro Real
(Coro Intermezzo and Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid)
Musical Director: Dennis Russell Davies
Stage Director: Phelim McDermott
Sets and Costumes: Dan Potra
Lighting: Jon Clark
Choreography: Ben Wright
Video: Leo Warner
Chorus Master: Andrés Máspero
TV Director: János Darvas
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